Skip to main content

Parsons wins major rail contract

Parsons has been selected by the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board (PCJPB), which owns and operates Caltrain (the commuter rail line between San Francisco and San Mateo and Santa Clara counties), for design and installation of its $138 million interoperable communications-based overlay signal system positive train control (CBOSS PTC).
March 23, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
4089 Parsons has been selected by the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board (PCJPB), which owns and operates Caltrain (the commuter rail line between San Francisco and San Mateo and Santa Clara counties), for design and installation of its $138 million interoperable communications-based overlay signal system positive train control (CBOSS PTC). This contract includes compliance with Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) requirements meeting the mandates of the Railroad Safety Improvement Act of 2008, as well as creating functions that will improve performance of Caltrain passenger operations.

Under the four-year contract, Parsons will design, install, test, integrate, document, commission, and provide warranty services to PCJPB, enabling Caltrain to place CBOSS PTC into revenue service by October 2015.

When completed, Caltrain’s CBOSS PTC will include the capability to prevent train-to-train collisions, excessive speeds, incursions into established work zone limits, and movement through misaligned switches. Parsons will ensure that the CBOSS PTC for Caltrain will be interoperable with the PTC systems implemented by Caltrain tenant railroads:  Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR), Capitol Corridor, Altamont Commuter Express, and 2008 Amtrak, providing seamless operation of trains moving between Caltrain and UPRR-controlled territory.

Related Content

  • Maine to trial rail-trespasser detector
    September 19, 2013
    Brunswick, Maine, will be the site of an unusual three-year research project involving testing an automated trespasser detection and deterrent systems in high-risk areas along the Pan Am railways and Amtrak Downeaster rail lines, the Maine Department of Transportation has said. Researchers will install and operate systems that automatically detect trespassers, capture video with wireless cameras and issue recorded warnings to tell them to get away from the tracks. The systems also can be used to alert lo
  • Kapsch granted approval for first GSM-R system in Poland
    May 27, 2014
    The President of the Polish Office of Rail Transportation (UTK) has granted approval for the operation of the Global System for Mobile Communications - Railway (GSM-R) system implemented by Kapsch CarrierCom on route E30 on the Bielawa Dolna–Węgliniec–Legnica route. The authorisation recognises, for the first time in Europe, that implementation of the GSM-R system has been completed in compliance with the European Union’s new Technical Specifications for Interoperability (TSI) for the control-command an
  • Jacobs WSP/Parsons Brinckerhoff JV wins engineering excellence award
    October 13, 2016
    The work of a Jacobs WSP/Parsons Brinckerhoff design joint venture on the North Strathfield Rail Underpass (NSRU) in New South Wales has been awarded an Australian Engineering Excellence Award (AEEA), which recognises outstanding achievement in the practice of engineering and service to the profession. The NSRU project was part of the Northern Sydney Freight Corridor Program, a joint Australian and NSW Government initiative to improve the capacity and reliability of freight trains between Strathfield an
  • North Florida signals coordinated approach to congestion management
    October 7, 2013
    David Crawford investigates innovative congestion management in Florida. The largest US city by area is well into the implementation of an ambitious congestion management system (CMS) on the scale of those of higher-profile centres such as Seattle and San Francisco. Regional agency the North Florida Transportation Planning Organisation (NFTPO) aims to ensure that commuters on major highways in Jacksonville can rely on a minimum 72km/h (45mph) driving speed in normal conditions.